Roderick Lipscomb is looking for work, no easy task in the current job climate.

The 26-year-old is finding out the hard way that having a criminal conviction on your record makes the feat of finding a job even tougher. In July, he pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor assault on a female charge.

“Employers won’t even continue talking to you when they find out there’s something in your background,” Lipscomb, of Whitsett, said Friday. “I can’t tell you how many interviews I got turned down from.”

Though he won’t be eligible until next summer, he hopes to apply for and receive relief under a new and little-known law intended to help those with minimal criminal records get jobs and re-qualify for other assistance. The Certificate of Relief Act went into effect Dec. 1.

The direct consequences of a criminal conviction are clear — prison time, probation, repayment of restitution — laid out in black and white by a judge’s order. It’s the unseen fallout from such a conviction that’s often more punishing. Civil statutes automatically bar convicted criminals from licensure and employment, cause housing evictions and deny access to financial aid and welfare programs. For instance, someone convicted of felony larceny couldn’t receive a barber’s license.

Contrary to myth, there aren’t time limits attached to many of those automatic restrictions, dubbed “collateral consequences,” and their effects can be debilitating years and years after a judge’s ruling.

The new law lets low-level felons and misdemeanants with fewer than two convictions apply for relief from the collateral consequences of their convictions. It gives judges the power to sign off on a waiver of those collateral consequences after a review of a defendant’s criminal record and hearing with prosecutors and victims.

Daniel Bowes, of the N.C. Justice Center, is something of an expert on the Certificate of Relief Act. Bowes spoke to more than 60 people, including Lipscomb, at Burlington’s Positive Attitude Youth Center on Monday about the law. He’s traveling the state to teach ex-offenders as well as judges and court personnel about certificates of relief.

“It’s severely under-utilized right now,” Bowes said.

The law primarily benefits job seekers in three ways: by overriding automatic civil sanctions to occupational licensing and other areas, persuading employers that a person’s criminal past is behind them and by protecting employers from negligent hiring liability.

That last factor — immunizing an employer from litigation if an employee commits a crime — could be hugely influential to employers simply looking to minimize their financial risks, Bowes said. In any job interview, having a certificate signed by a judge and explaining that someone isn’t a risk to society or the public is likely to be looked at favorably, he said.

Tavores Vanhook, director of Men’s Empowering Resource Center, organized Monday’s information session to help spread word about the law. Employment is the greatest barrier ex-offenders have to reintegrating into society and not becoming repeat offenders, he said.

“Ten out of 10 guys I talk with, employment is a big issue,” Vanhook said. “That’s what an employer is always looking at and society is always looking at if you committed a crime in the past. These people have already done their time. They’ve paid their debt to society. What now do you want them to do?”

Phil Bowers runs Sustainable Alamance, a program to help those with criminal backgrounds find permanent employment. He says the lack of job prospects often causes people to return to crime to feed their families or pay their way. It’s a cycle of crime that stems from hopelessness, he said.

“All that sort of adds up. For a lot of guys, it’s a burden too heavy to carry. They just can’t take it. Many of them have thought seriously about ending their lives,” Bowers said.

Superior Court Judge Rob Johnson said few people know about the certificate of relief, which came about as part of last year’s sweeping Justice Reinvestment Act passed by the General Assembly to reconfigure sentencing laws and probation.

He’s seen only one local request for relief, and it was placed on his desk rather than filed through the Clerk of Courts. He had to return the submitted form and tell them to file it with the clerk’s office. He hasn’t heard about it since.

The law requires the standard eligibility form be filed with the clerk’s office so that district attorneys and victims will be notified of the request and a hearing can be calendared. It also requires the district attorney’s office to run a record check on defendants.

The petitions are heard by senior resident superior court judges and chief district court judges or other delegated officials.

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What are collateral sanctions and disqualifications?

Apart from criminal statutes regarding prison sentences or probation, state law also imposes civil penalties on convicted offenders.

Collateral sanctions automatically bar a person from a benefit or opportunity. Collateral disqualifications allow a board or group of authority to deny someone a benefit or opportunity based on the conviction. These civil punishments often have indefinite time limits, meaning the effects of a conviction could last decades.

The UNC School of Government tabulated more than 900 of those civil penalties, including:

■Barring from or termination of occupational licenses, such as trade licenses or licenses to practice medicine or law

■Loss of state and federal housing benefits

■Eviction from public housing

■Loss of financial aid assistance

■Loss of public benefits, such as food stamps and unemployment

■Child custody issues

The certificate of relief doesn’t apply to:

■Sanctions on possession of firearms by a felon

■Driver’s license restrictions, revocation or ineligibility

■Sex offender registration

■Criminal justice officer and sheriff’s certification, employment as corrections or probation officer or employment as prosecutor

■Sanctions enacted by federal law or in the N.C. Constitution

Source: N.C. Justice Center, UNC School of Government

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Who is eligible for the certificate of relief?

Requirements to be eligible for a certificate of relief:

■Person must have been convicted of two or fewer Class G, H or I felonies or misdemeanors in a single court session. Two or more convictions in different court session make someone ineligible for relief

■Any felony conviction class E or higher means ineligible for relief

■Examples of G, H and I felonies include: felony death by vehicle, common law robbery, financial identity fraud, trafficking marijuana, larceny, possession of stolen goods, cruelty to animals, abandonment of a child

■12 months must have passed since completion of sentence

■No pending criminal charges

■Actively seeking lawful occupation

■Eligible persons must submit a Petition and Order for Certificate of Relief form to the clerk of court in the county of their conviction. The form, AOC-CR-273, is available online through www.nccourts.org.

■A court hearing before a judge and including members of the district attorney's office and/or the victim of the underlying offense.

■The court has the right to deny a petition but must state reasons why.